Why is Kim Baird on the cover of Alberta Oil magazine?

Back in June, shortly before the Harper-appointed National Energy Board gave a thumbs-up to Kinder Morgan’s oil tanker proposal, the Liberals announced the creation of a new review panel tasked with “restoring public trust in Canada’s environmental and regulatory processes.”

Barely two months later, the panel has failed spectacularly. Not only has the slapdash process failed to restore trust, it has actually dragged our faith in Canada’s pipeline and tanker reviews to historic new lows.

As the hearings got underway, we raised the alarm about the cozy links between Kinder Morgan and Kim Baird, the panel’s de facto Chair. In any serious legal process, Baird’s longstanding relationship with Kinder Morgan would have disqualified her as an impartial panel member.

But then, as the panel lurched toward its final hearings in Victoria, Baird did something bizarre. Writing an editorial in the Globe and Mail, Baird delivered what was essentially a preview of the panel’s report, before the hearings had even concluded.

What’s worse, Baird’s article emphasized the “impatience” she was hearing about getting this pipeline built. With 90 per cent of presenters to the panel dead set against Kinder Morgan’s proposal, where was Baird’s sense of “urgency” coming from?

In case you haven’t been following, in the past two weeks the National Energy Board has descended into crisis, forfeiting whatever shred of legitimacy remained after being caught lying to the public.

What prompted the NEB to mislead the public? It turns out that with its review of TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline proposal getting under way, panel members met with TransCanada lobbyist (and former Quebec Premier) Jean Charest behind closed doors, with no public record.

What makes it okay for the Liberals’ Ministerial panel to have met with Kinder Morgan behind closed doors before starting their review of this project? Answer: nothing. The only reason the Ministerial panel didn’t break any rules in meeting with Kinder Morgan in advance is that it has no clear rules or mandate to break.

This panel was supposed to help restore public trust in the pipeline review process. Instead it has opened up more uncomfortable questions:

How many “pre-engagement sessions” were held between Kinder Morgan and the Ministerial panel?

Where were they held and who attended these meetings?

What was discussed and where are the transcripts?

Did Kinder Morgan influence the panel’s review process?

How did the panel decide who to invite for the “pre-engagement sessions”, and why did only pipeline proponents attend?

While the Ministerial panel was not elected and will not have to answer to voters, Liberal MPs were and are accountable to their constituents for the panel’s failings.

Alberta Oil says that Kim Baird will be the last voice Trudeau hears before making a decision on Kinder Morgan. Let’s make sure that is not the case.

11 Responses to “Why is Kim Baird on the cover of Alberta Oil magazine?”

Q’s.. and y did they have these meetings in first place? This just sucks. There is no real #climate action happening with this gov. Or if there is there are FF demons internally who are getting the better of the situation. Sad.

We are fortunate that the people on these panels are such dunderheads when it comes to duplicity. thankfully they leave their fingerprints everywhere. What their lack of caring actually reflects though is that the hearings really truly are just window dressing. An inept attempt by the Liberal government to look like they care. Let’s make sure they don’t get away with it.

1962: An explosion on a gas pipeline occurred on a lateral line on January 17, about 50
kilometers northwest of Edson, Alberta. 8 people were killed.[2][3]
1965: An explosion from a gas line destroyed several apartments in the LaSalle Heights
Disaster in LaSalle, Quebec killing 28 people, the worst pipeline disaster in Canadian
history
1965: On October 12, an explosion & fire involved the Albert Gas Trunk Line LTD. near
Sundre, Alberta, killing 2 pipeline workers.[4]
1969: On October 25, a faulty pipe exploded in a gas line beneath Malton, Ontario. One
person died, about 20 were injured, 9 stores and several homes were destroyed. Gas in
a dead end section of gas pipeline.[5]
1986: On October 27, a butane pipeline was hit by a pipeline crew, in Sarnia, Ontario. $
workers were injured.[6]
List of pipeline accidents – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pipeline_accidents
1 of
1996: A gas pipeline, owned and operated by TransCanada Corporation ruptured at a
crossing of the La Salle River in St. Norbert, Winnipeg resulting in an explosion, fire and
loss of one home. There were no injuries or deaths reported.[7]
2002: A refined product pipeline rupture near Saint-Clet, Quebec, on 2002 Dec 07, from
Trans Northern Pipelines Inc. 273.1 mm diameter mainline kilometer post 63.57,
estimated 32 cubic meters of low sulphur diesel released to area and drainage systems.
Transportation Safety Board Investigation Report Number P02H0052.http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/pipeline/2002/p02h0052/p02h0052.asp
2003: A backhoe punctured a pipeline in Etobicoke, Ontario the resulting explosion killed
7 people
2007: A crude oil pipeline owned and operated by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners was
ruptured by an excavator digging a storm sewer trench in Burnaby, British Columbia [8]
2009: A July 20 Alberta pipeline explosion & fire involved a TransCanada Corporation
natural gas pipeline. The explosion, which sent 50 meter flames into the air, destroyed a
two-hectare wooded area. The NEB said the delay in releasing the report was caused by
an “administrative error”, when an employee left without transferring the file over. The
Peace River Mainline pipeline, built in 1968, had ruptured six times and leaked on 17
occasions until 2014. The line ruptured in 2009 due to corrosion.[9]
2009: On 29 September, an Enbridge crude oil pipeline, Line 2, leaked at Mile Post
474.7335, immediately downstream of the Odessa pump station near Odessa,
Saskatchewan. The leak occurred at a crack within a shallow dent at the 6 o’clock
position on the pipe. There were indications of gouging associated with the dent. The
release occurred in a low lying, densely vegetated marsh. Approximately 175 cubic
meters of crude oil was released, of which most was recovered. There were no
injuries.[10]
2009: A refined product pipeline rupture near Farran’s Point, Ontario on Ottawa Lateral,
on October 5, from Trans Northern Pipelines Inc. system, unknown petroleum product,
unknown quantity. Transportation Safety Board Report Number P09H0086.http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/pipeline/2009/p09h0086/p09h0086.asp
2010: A refined product pipeline rupture at Bronte Creek in Oakville, Ontario, detected on
March 11, from Trans Northern Pipeline Inc. system, estimated 23,770 gallons of
gasoline released to creek, soil and ground water. Transportation Safety Board Report
Number P10H0021. http://www.tsp.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/pipeline/2010/p10h0021/p10h0021.asp
2011: In April, a pipeline break northeast of Peace River, Alberta, leaked 28,000 barrels
of crude oil, Some wildlife was killed from the spill. The Energy Resources Conservation
Board, an independent government agency that was dissolved in 2013, reprimanded the
company, saying it had inadequate leak detection and failed to test its emergency
response plan.[11]
2012: In June, almost half a million liters of sour crude oil leaked into a creek that flows
into the Red Deer River, located about 100 kilometers north of Calgary, near the
community of Sundre.[12]
2012: On June 19, an Enbridge pipeline had a gasket failure, spilling about 1,400 barrels
of crude oil, at a pumping station near Elk Point, Alberta.[13]
2013: In June, between 400,000 and 600,000 liters of produced water escaped from a
pipeline, in addition to 5,000 liters of oil, near Little Buffalo, Alberta.[14]
List of pipeline accidents – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pipeline_accidents
2
2013: On October 17, a 36-inch natural gas pipeline ruptured southwest of Fort
McMurray, Alberta. An estimated 16.5 million cubic meters of natural gas were released.
The rupture did not result in a fire, there were no injuries and no evacuation was
required. A fracture in a pipe elbow was the identified for the reason of the failure.[15]
2014: On January 25, a TransCanada Corporation gas transmission pipeline exploded
and burned, causing a natural gas shortage in Manitoba and parts of the United
States.[16]
2014: On April 2, a pipeline failed, and spilled 70,000 liters of oil and processed water,
northwest of Slave Lake, Alberta.[17]
2014: In November, 60,000 liters of crude oil spilled into muskeg from a failed pipeline, in
Red Earth Creek in northern Alberta. Officials were delayed in reaching the scene, due to
poor weather at the time.[18]
2015: On March 01, a pipeline leak spilled about 17,000 barrel of condensate, in
Northern Alberta.[19]
2015: On May 5, a gas transmission pipeline failed approximately 36 kilometers
southeast of Drumheller, Alberta. The incident resulted in an undetermined volume of
sweet natural gas and associated hydrocarbon liquid being released onto agricultural
land.[20]
2015: On July 15, a pipeline at a Long Lake oil sands facility in northern Alberta leaked
about 31,500 barrels of oil emulsion. The spill covered approximately 16,000 square
meters (4 acres) but was mostly contained within the pipeline’s right of way.[21]
2015: On August 14, a leak from a pipeline spilled about 100,000 liters of an oil, water, &
gas emulsion on the Hay Lake First Nation, about 100 kilometers northwest of High
Level, Alberta[22]

It is becoming clear that Trudeau is Stephen Harper with pretty hair and a pretty face. Why else would one of his departments appoint Kim Baird to the Kinder Morgan Ministerial Panel. Why else would one of his departments issue two permits to continue construction of the Site C dam on a Friday before a long weekend in BC.

Voters have been constantly warned that Liberals campaign from the left, and govern from the right. They all knew that when they cast their ballot, and will inevitably fall for that suckers game in the next federal election, as they always have, federally. You can look across the border and see Trump using the same strategy.

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